A/N:Told you the chapter would be up soon.
And this one is a gift to make up for the long wait; 18 pages! (proud proud).
Sooo, enjoy some nice fluffyness, even though there isn't THAT much in this chapter; but do not fret! We are GETTING THERE!
And before I start: A HUUUUGEthanks to all of you WONDERFUL and AMAZINGreviewers! Please keep reviewing, it's fantastic to hear from you guys!
And all of you silent readers: REVIEW! I know you are there! Do as you want others do to your stories! (I am a person who always reviews everything she reads!)
Now Enjoy!
Chapter 11: The Feeling Of You
His eyes were focused on the tormenting weather that presented itself ruthlessly, hammering down onto the earth below.
He pulled a face; an unpleasant one, annoyed at the fact that he had to stay inside, even though it was a grey and monotonous day.
Even though escaping over the balcony, stealthily sneaking along would be as easy a task as any, Kuro decided against such an act, seeing as the risks of injury and the consequential stay at a hospital were high.
Seriously, he could not understand the people dreaming of living in huge palaces with too many towers to count them. His residence was pretty much that, and it drove him insane.
'I ask myself what Rosalia is doing right now...'
Kuro closed his orbs. In front of his inner eye he imagined her trademark smile, plastered widely onto her lips. Eyes shimmering in excitement as her messy, rose-dyed tresses tumbled lively around her head.
A knock caught him in his daydream.
Opening his eyes reluctantly, he jolted in surprise upon what he saw in conclusion; Rosalia stood grinning widely, her hair coated in water droplets, gazing back at him expectantly.
Blinking several times, Kuro quickly grasped the balcony handle, twisting it around and opening.
She entered without a word.
"What were you doing out there!?" He suddenly questioned, perplexed, frowning.
"I wanted to see you!" She smiled, turning to look at him, "But it was damn hard climbing over your balcony during this lousy weather."
Eyes wide in shock, he shook his head, "You could have hurt yourself!"
"Oh well. I'm fine now." She stuck out her tongue in a playful manner, causing both children to burst out into laughter.
Just as the young girl was about to speak another word, her face crunched together and she began to sneeze, shivering lightly.
Kuro rolled his eyes, "I knew this would happen; you got a cold because of your little escapade."
"It wasn't really an escapade, I wasn't getting away from anywhere. I was trying to-" she sneezed again, rubbing her face in order to make the itching stop, "see you..."
Walking over to his wardrobe, Kuro pulled out one of his jumpers and a pair of sports trousers.
He looked towards his friend, "Here, take these, they're dry and warm."
Rosalia smiled, pearly teeth displayed amusingly to him, "But Kuro, they're too big!"
He smirked, "I know, but it'll keep you warm!"
Nodding in understanding, she took the garments from him, stretching them in between her hands and inspecting them with strong curiosity.
"I won't look." The boy stated, turning around demonstratively and gazing back outside the window.
He heard a shuffle of clothing, feet lifting and falling back to the ground, heard her mutter as she noticed the jumper was slumping down on one shoulder.
"Done!" She finally pronounced, and Kuro turned once more to find her in attire very much too big for her body, even though he swore they were pretty much the same size.
"You really are tiny for an eight-year-old." He mocked with slight laughter in his voice.
Pouting, Rosalia crossed her arms in defiance, "Well sorry, I don't grow as fast as other girls!"
There was another round of laughter following their interaction, until both stood there, staring at the drenched land beyond the balcony door.
"It's amazing how cold it gets when it rains." Rosalia mumbled, hugging her tiny frame in desperate need of warmth.
Looking at her trembling form, Kuro thought for a short moment before an idea popped inside his brain.
"How about we lay in bed under the blankets? We can keep warm that way."
Staring at his overly large and most likely extremely soft bed, the girl nodded without much hesitation.
So as quickly as they could, both clambered into the soft, feathery warmth of the mattress, pulling the duvet and blankets over their nose-tips and giggling as slowly, a comfortable feeling seeped into their bodies.
"You have a really nice bed." Rosalia chirped as she rolled over towards the young boy.
He nodded briefly, shutting his eyes and taking in her strong, flowery scent.
Suddenly, he felt something warm snuggled up against his chest. Opening his orbs, he could see her leaning into him, smiling contently and letting out a breathy sigh of relief.
"Much nicer..." her voice was barely audible, and he guessed she succumbed to slumber shortly after.
A bright, scarlet flush crossed his cheeks; glad she wasn't awake to see it, he simply shut his yes once more and drifted off, hoping no one would enter to find them this way.
The first thing he noticed was a calm, steady movement near his chest. Something pleasant and balmy radiated around him and caused his whole body to feel relaxed, comfortable, and, dare he say , content.
In all of his life, so Sasuke believed, he had never felt this carefree. Since days, or rather weeks, he hadn't slept as wonderfully as the last night.
Not even after a hot, lustrous night with one of his countless one-time-only encounters.
Even though after such active nights he did find succumbing to sleep a much easier task than on any other.
But if he recalled correctly, he hadn't slept with anyone. He can't even recall having gone out last night.
Suddenly, something peeked his nostrils, and it was then he took in the mild, rosy fragrance which was so not masculine.
Cracking his eyes, unwillingly to be honest, open at the slightest, letting light seep through and blind his vision, he at first only saw a blur of colours.
Something pink and creamy and peachy.
Confused, he squinted them shut before he attempted it again, having all the floaty edges of his vision come together to form a solid, detailed image.
Of a pink-haired women laying in bed with him.
Eyes widening in horror, he stared mutely, not daring to breathe for several seconds as he took in the sight next to him.
What. Was. Sakura. Doing. In. His. Bed!?
Sakura!?
Of all people to screw up with...
Frowning in frustration, for any memory of last night seemed to evade him, he considered her possible reactions, dare she find herself awake with him next to her.
Countable different plans rushed through his brain; plans which would clean his vest from any dirt and make him stand there as the innocent one.
He could, with much delicacy, carry her back into her own bed, so that she woke up in there and not even notice she had spent the night with him.
Or he disappeared and made her wake up on her own (just like with most of his one-night stands) – but then there'd be the problem with the furniture. After all, everything in this room screamed his name.
Not if he quickly changed it all.
What!?
Bullshit, as if that would work.
Wait.
"Come on, Sasuke, you need to remember how the hell you ended up in bed together."
It wasn't until then, when his small tirade of panic subsided, that he noticed that, actually, she was fully dressed in her pyjamas.
And he still had his long boxers on.
Which meant...
"Wait. We haven't slept with each other!"
So how come she was snuggled up against his chest?
At that precise moment he recalled the gruesome weather of the last handful of days.
The thunderstorm the previous night, and Sakura's crying form outside her bedroom door...
He had bought her inside with him to soothe her.
And even though he should have felt alleviation upon the realisation that he didn't screw up, he was somehow...irritated.
How come he was so...blissfully relaxed? As if he'd had the best sex in his lifetime.
Which he hadn't.
Not even close.
Sighing in annoyance, he carefully manoeuvred a hand through his silken locks. Not wanting to deal with the situation as it was, he decided to just shut his eyes and return to the world of sleep.
But his plan didn't last long enough, before he heard a faint humming.
The humming quickly turned into a muttering of words, sounding a little slurred, until he realised they were actually being weakly sung.
Glimpsing carefully through his obsidian orbs, he found the mouth of his pinkette room-mate moving, as she was singing some...odd country song.
"What the hell!?"
Observing her intriguingly, thinking she was awake, Sasuke was proven wrong when he carefully poked her arm, only to find her unmoving.
But still singing.
"What kind of person sings in their sleep?"
Suddenly, her viridian eyes opened sluggishly, directing themselves at the Uchiha.
He would never admit to her that his breath hitched that very moment upon the beautiful sight he encountered.
Never.
(But to summarise it: a spiralling whirlpool of blanched jade darkening to a forest green, with amber hues weaving themselves into notice around the pupil.)
She stopped singing, staring at him in an expressionless manner.
Several seconds, maybe even minutes, of utter silence followed, in which both adults simply observed each other without the slightest hint of any kind of emotion displayed on their faces.
It was, surprisingly, Sasuke who broke the silence.
"You sing in your sleep."
She raised an eyebrow at that statement, "Do I?" He voice was silent and light.
He nodded once.
A sudden smile grew on her glossy lips, "I guess it's because I hear them in my dreams..."
To him, it was as if a fire had been ignited within her orbs, for they began to glow with a steady warmth he was only too accustomed to; even though it was never really directed towards him.
"You're not wondering how come we are in bed together?"
Sakura began to laugh weakly, "Well, I'm still wearing all of my clothing so I assume it was nothing inappropriate that occurred last night."
He felt his own lips twitch.
The calm, serene atmosphere continued for another minute or so in silence, wherein Sasuke actually imagined falling back asleep next to the rosette.
If it weren't for the sudden widening of her irises, her jolting up and flinging her body out of the bed.
"What-"
"Damn, I'm late!"
Sasuke sat up, "It's Saturday: you don't have work."
"I know!" She jogged around the bed, towards Sasuke's side, and grabbed his arm, pulling him with her, "Quick!"
"What, where are we-"
"No time for words! Just follow!"
Frowning in confusion, he simply obliged, leaving the girl to pull on his arm as she jumped out of his bedroom and dashed, Sasuke in tow, towards the kitchen.
"Sakura-"
"Not now!"
Once there, she halted in front of the balcony door, twisting the key in its lock and pressing the handle down, before it opened and she tore the poor young Uchiha mercilessly along.
Outside, a cold, moist air swatted Sasuke in the face, sending a chill down his spine. The sky was still very dark, even though all clouds had left. It must have been a handful of minutes before 7 a.m. or so, seeing as the sun was still tucked into bed itself.
"It's cold." he complained, but Sakura didn't seem bothered at all.
Instead, she climbed on top of the small wall which was to protect anyone from tumbling down the many-blocks-building and sat down, perfectly balanced, on it's edge.
"Come on!"
Sighing, not wanting to argue at such an early hour, Sasuke complied, carefully clambering up the slightly wet wall before he sat down cautiously next to the crazy pinkette.
"There. What now?" he grumbled.
"Now, we wait." she spoke with a sing-sang voice.
Raising an eyebrow, he directed his face towards hers, "Wait? For what?"
"Just look." the words came out so softly, they would have nearly been missed.
And when he indeed did turn his face back towards the skyscraper-filled horizon, he soon discovered what she meant; a streak of bright, radiant orange crawled up at the far distance.
Faster than one could count, it accumulated, turning a reddish, pink hue as the sky was filled with an orange glow, cast onto the whole city without exception.
"Dawn..." Sasuke muttered as he realised why Sakura was in a hurry.
"You know, we humans always have appointments and time limits. Be it at work, with businessmen or friends, celebrating something or picking up someone. We set a time, but we can always not be punctual. There is always an excuse to be late, all our life; and at one point, we will be late. But the sun" She paused, obviously admiring the sight in front of her, "is never late. No matter what happens in our world. No matter the clouds in the sky, the sun is always on time. It always comes at the exact same time. It never misses its appointments. Dawn waits for no one."
She looked to the side, gazing at Sasuke's reaction as he simply stared with a minuscule glare.
Confused at his displeased reaction, Sakura tilted her head, "What's wrong?"
"You woke me up to make me look at this?"
She rolled her eyes, "Actually, you were awake already. I just pulled you out of bed."
"Do you consider this romantic or what?"
"Of course not. In any good romantic movie, one of the protagonists is always late, bringing in tension and further feelings. The sun is the exact opposite of tardiness." She sighed, "I wanted to simply share this moment with you. It always make me feel happy."
"Watching the bloody sun rise. Who am I, Simba?" He did not look at her.
Clucking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, she began to glare as well, "How many times have you actually watched the sun rise and considered it's precise punctuality?"
"The sun doesn't rise. The world simply spins towards and from it. That's what it does, it's nothing special." His voice was monotonous as he said that.
Standing up and jumping off the edge, the raven-haired man stood once more on his kitchen's balcony, "Come inside once you're done. Or you'll catch a cold."
With that, he disappeared from her sight.
Sakura did not know if she should be angered or annoyed or both.
How could anyone be as detached as him!? What the hell made him such a...cold-hearted asshole?
What Sakura couldn't really know, of course, was that the curt moment with her on top of the balcony wall, speaking of how miraculous the sight could be bought back memories Sasuke would rather not have surface.
Memories he fought to extinguish.
Buried in oblivion.
Moments like these?
They simply hurt too much.
For the rest of that morning, neither of the adults present within the apartment exchanged as much as a word. They ate separately, Sakura focusing on her designs and works for the new building that was currently being erected (the last project was near completion and only needed a few checks, before she and Sasuke would have to discuss further details with the customer).
Sasuke, being a man of little words anyway, appreciated the silence and went back to some paperwork he was currently undergoing in the living-room.
Gazing lazily outside the large window he could see the clouds crack open and disperse gradually, as a beautiful azure sky presented itself with a bursting sun drying away every memory of the last few, rainy days.
He turned his eyes back down to the papers at hand, glad to have an optimal light source from outside.
He was about to sigh in comfort when his vision was darkened by a silhouette standing, arms crossed, in front of him.
Frowning, he looked up just to find the rosette positioned there disapprovingly, watching him 'work'.
Sasuke assumed she was still mad about what had occurred in the morning, probably demanding an explanation and throwing some new and unheard insults at his head for being the ass he has always been, to recite one of their most recent arguments.
Preparing himself for an array of words, he spoke up, "What?"
She opened her mouth to speak, yet closed it when sudden confusion stroke and she inspected the Uchiha a little closer.
Was he...?
He was...
"You wear glasses?"
Indeed, the young man had currently not been bothered with putting in his contact lenses seeing as he wasn't going anywhere, so decided to stick to the simple, rimless glasses he owned.
"Yes. And?" He raised a delicate eyebrow.
Now Sakura had to admit, he looked a lot...hotter with those spectacles. Somehow overly intelligent and devious and...normal.
But she'd never openly state that.
Never.
"Erm..." her actual intention suddenly fleeted her, causing her brows to crease as she tried to remember, "I..."
When she still did not continue, Sasuke sighed, "Sakura, I have work to do, so if you could just pl-"
"Ah! Now I remember!"
A vein twitched on his forehead at her rude interruption.
"I promised Akuma that, once the weather improved, we'd head to the mall!" She grinned triumphantly at him.
What victory was she celebrating?
"Okay. Have fun." He spoke flatly.
"Wait – you're coming too!"
He scowled some more, "Why should I? I have work to do." His voice, devoid of any emotion, as per usual, replied.
"Because – Because its a family thing!" The exasperation was evident on her face.
"Family? I'm his uncle and you are, quite strictly, some stranger he has a liking towards."
He could tell her rolling eyes even though his were averted towards his documents.
"Can you just not be a jerk for the day and come along? It'd mean a lot to Akuma. He hasn't had the chance to see one yet!"
Obsidian orbs glanced darkly at the pinkette, who did not waver in her stance.
"No."
"Sasuke."
"No."
"Why?"
"No."
"You're forcing me to take desperate measures."
"Hn."
That was it. With the first idea that popped into her mind, she did what she instinctively held for best and sat on his lap.
Seeing her move coming, he quickly jerked his paper stacks in the air so as to not get them crumpled.
It did not stop him from glowering maddeningly at her.
"What the hell!?" He roared, not sure if she was out of her mind.
"I will sit here on your lap all day unless you join us."
Now in any other situation, in any other scenario, those would have been the words Sasuke would want to hear.
Having an attractive woman seated on your lap, face close up to yours allowed your imagination to run wild, and he had several ideas plop into his mind at that very moment in time.
But this was a different universe.
And Sasuke was rather pissed.
"I am stronger than you."
"And?"
"I can throw you off."
"Try, I'm quite flexible."
Wrong choice of words. He might be Uchiha Sasuke, the cold hearted bastard with a stoic facial expression, but he was also just a man.
And the way her body was, more or less, pressed against his had a...provocative effect on him. It took quite some will to not pull her head down by her hair and press those lush, enticing lips against his, devouring her until they bled from too much activity.
"Sakura..." he tried with a sinister tone.
"Are you coming along or not?"
Suddenly, he took in the noise of a door opening and closing along the hallway, and light footsteps tapping on the ground.
'Akuma...'
Not wanting the boy to find the both of them in this kind of position, for he knew the awkwardness that would follow in explaining that 'It isn't what it seems to be', he made up his mind.
"Alright, I'm coming." He hoped he wouldn't regret this later.
Smiling brightly, Sakura leaned down towards him, looking him square in the eyes.
"Thank you."
And before he could quite register it, she pressed her soft lips against his cheek before she, like a lightning bolt, stood up and was already a good five metres across the living-room.
"Hey Sakura-nee, are we going!?" The young boy, now arriving at the scene of crime, questioned.
He wore his casual clothing composed of some jeans, trainers and a hoody jumper, a smile as bright as summer on his face.
"Yup! Your uncle is more than happy to join!"
Muttering under his breath, not caring about the delicate line of crimson that adorned his cheeks, he stood up.
"Give me a minute." He grumbled before leaving for the bathroom.
Like on any lazy Saturday, the mall, just as Sasuke had expected, was bustling with people consisting of families and teens, all busy with shopping and window-watching, or eating at the various stands and mini-restaurants.
It was an overly large, round mall, very high-tech, with as many shops as some smaller, entire towns would have.
The classical shopping centre music was being played, undermined by the constant chatter and rumble of human talk.
"A Video Game shop!" Akuma cheered as they entered, bolting off towards it.
"Akuma!" Sasuke tried calling but was left unheard.
Just as he was about to jog after him, he felt something grasping his jacket and pulling him back.
Sakura grinned merrily at the scene, "Just leave him. We'll catch up."
"Wonderful..." the Uchiha grumbled, thinking about all the kind of situations where someone could recognize the kid as rich man's runt, kidnap him, seduce him, hurt him or whatever they did nowadays to get what they desired.
"You worry too much. He is an intelligent young man, he knows how to cope."
"Man?" Sasuke sneered.
"Yes. He has more manners than most men I have met." Her eyes focused on his face, giving the indirect indication that he was meant.
"Tch." He dug his hands into his pockets, feeling unnerved alone by the masses of people currently surrounding them.
Sakura must have noticed his discomfort, for she spoke up quite suitely, "You don't enjoy crowds, do you?"
"What gave that away." There it was, his monotonous voice again.
Yet Sakura giggled, ignoring his jerky nature, "Just relax, I'm sure you'll enjoy today."
Before he could make a remark, they reached the entrance of the game shop, Sakura entering to find Akuma ogling at a new product in the shelves.
Once their business was done there, Sakura grabbed Akuma by the hand, pulling him into the book store just around the corner, where she presented him some of her favourite novels and sparked his interest for a whole load of new series.
She pretty much led him from store to store, pointing to different clothes or shoes, having him admire how so many people could choose from a variety of choices and try them on before having to buy them.
He, after all, had all his shoes tailored specifically, without giving the boy much room to pick any details of his footwear.
Their journey continued along an electronic shop, brummagem store, another one for expensive jewellery, home goods store and many, uncountable others.
She would watch as he stood there, eyes large and glittering, awestruck by the contents held by a simple shopping centre.
Sasuke, all the while, trudged behind them, staying outside most shops and simply watching people march along in a rather bored, slightly annoyed manner.
He imagined all the things he could be doing instead of following two children along a mall, causing his brow to twitch every other second.
"Sasuke!" He heard Sakura call as he was a good 10 or so metres behind them.
He still stood near the pet shop the pinkette had rushed inside to gush over the puppies and kittens and whatnots, before hearing her complain about her cat having gone missing to the manager, who began an eager talk with her.
Inwardly, Sasuke cursed, taking large strides towards them before he finally caught up.
"What's that!?" Akuma questioned excitedly when he glanced over towards the arcade.
"It's an arcade."
"They have arcades in here too!?" It sounded as if someone told him about Father Christmas for the first time.
The rosette nodded, letting go of the young boys hand as he dashed inside, already sucked into the joy of all the electronic devices it withheld.
She heard Sasuke sigh next to her.
"Not having fun?" He could decipher the mockery in her voice.
"Hn."
Turning to face him once more, he had to notice that her smile was still plastered to her face, causing his eyebrow to twitch more venomously than before.
Why did she get to enjoy herself and he didn't?
"I'm surprised there isn't an uproar starting here."
"Why should there be one?" he was rather disinterested in small talk, to be honest, but didn't want to cause a scene.
"Well, you are super famous, right?"
"Too many people."
"But what if someone recognized you?"
His eyes averted to glance at hers, holding the same nonchalant expression he simply wore like no other, "Hn."
Shaking her head, Sakura grabbed his hand, causing him to frown once more that day, "Akuma is busy in the arcade, and he's got a phone on him."
Puzzled by the meaning behind her words, he wasn't left much time to think them through when she pulled him through the tightening crowds at a devastatingly fast speed.
"Saku- Wait!" He felt his arm being stretched uncomfortably as she tore him along to whatever destination she had in mind.
Before he could shout at her to stop, she halted in her tracks, causing him to bump into her tiny form.
"Here we are!"
Peeking up towards the sign of the shop, he quirked an eyebrow.
"A hat shop?" he mumbled in befuddlement.
Dragging him inside mercilessly, Sasuke found himself soon standing in front of various coloured and styled head-wear, made of many different materials.
He wasn't even given the chance to protest and tell the pinkette what an idiot she was when he felt something soft placed on top of his spiky locks.
Irritated, he stared at his reflection in the mirror he was twisted towards, viewing a grey fedora covering his hair.
And even before he had time to yank it off and yell, Sakura did it for him, replacing it with a beige newsboy hat instead.
"Sakura..." He felt all energy to argue leave his limbs as he shut his eyes.
Then there was another shuffle.
It took a panama, top hat, a trapper one and even a cylinder before Sakura squealed in joy at having found the right head-coverage, finally.
"A baseball cap, seriously?"
Sakura giggled next to him, staring at his mirror image. She flipped the navy hat on top of his head around so that the back faced forward; it was pretty much the way any little I-am-a-wannabe-cool would wear it.
"Sakura, I'm not 13."
"But you look cute with that cap on."
"Sweet-talking won't work."
"You'd rather have a beanie then?" Her eyes glowed challengingly.
"No."
"Is that...Uchiha Sasuke?"
Turning in surprise, the two adults saw a young blonde lady leaning towards the side, trying to catch a glimpse of Sasuke to verify her theory.
He quickly grasped the hat and twisted it so that it covered his eyes, looking down.
"I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. This is just my husband trying on hats." Sakura smiled innocently, causing the woman to shrug and trudge off in disappointment.
"Husband?" Sasuke smirked after he was sure she had gone.
"W-Well, I had to improvise." He could tell by the stutter that she was blushing.
"So instead of brother or friend or even boyfriend you think of husband?" Now he was plain simply teasing her.
She gave him a delicate slap on his arm, "Don't think anything of it, Uchiha! Now let's buy that cap, I was right to think you need it!"
They left the shop not before Sasuke rid himself of the teenager cap, causing Sakura to grab a sleek black trilby instead.
"Some celebrities wear these!" She threw in when he objected.
Giving in, grunting all the while in displeasure, he wore the stupid hat she bought for him simply to get out of the store.
Begrudgingly, he had to admit that her tactic was effective; people didn't even bother to turn around to look at him, for the hat covered most of his trademark hairstyle, leaving only a few ebony strands to stick out here and there.
Sakura walked enthusiastically next to him, "We could get you a nice pair of shades to go with it, you know."
"Sakura, can it." he growled, but only hit deaf ears for she had already clasped his hand into hers and tore him inside the next store.
Once there, again he was forced into muteness when she pulled out a pair of manly sunglasses and placed them on the brim of his nose.
"You look all dark and mysterious now."
She didn't really notice the arching of his eyebrow.
"Like James Bond."
"James Bond did not wear trilby hats." he threw in.
Still gleefully happy at making Sasuke so terribly uncomfortable, she tilted her head, "Aww, no, but he should've!"
Feeling something inside him beginning to boil at the childishness of the total situation, Sasuke's hand shot up to tear the spectacles from his face and give Sakura a good lecture or two, when something stopped him dead in his tracks.
Her delicate, tender hands did it for him; removing the shades.
Sasuke was faced with her glistening emerald orbs, peering deeply into his voids as if she could tell something he could not. That smile was still twisted on her lips, making her glow cunningly.
Her fingers gradually graced a few of his strands, pulling them to the side and making his eyes better visible.
He was not sure what it was that caused him to freeze to the spot, simply observing her actions curiously and waiting for her next move.
Something inside him began to jolt, as if having performed a somersault, making him swallow discontentedly.
He knew his heart was palpitating a little too quick inside his ribcage, and Sasuke was also so very, very irked.
But about what exactly, he was not sure.
"You need to smile more." her voice whispered softly as her fingers pressed against the corners of his lips and pulled them up.
His hand speedily shot up and grabbed hers, pulling it away from his face, but lingering on the touch and not letting go.
Confused and annoyed, Sasuke could not help a knot forming somewhere inside his abdomen and this sudden, burning desire to tuck her towards him and entrap her lips with his own.
However, different to normal circumstances, where his urge came from plain lust, he wanted to kiss her for no to him logical reason.
Sasuke just wanted to know what it felt like, wanted to see if the curl in his stomach would tighten, or loosen even, and especially, how she would react to his sudden actions.
Yet he never got as much as a chance, for she separated from his body quickly, sneaking her hand out of his grasp and turning towards the entrance.
"Let's go get Akuma."
She knew nothing of the turmoil within his mind.
So he simply nodded and complied, following her outside the shop and back towards the arcade, where they found the young spouse playing obliviously with the machines.
Stunningly, for both of them, he was no longer alone, talking amiably with someone towards his right both adults couldn't quite see.
"He must've met someone from school." Sakura stated, staring inside, bending her head in all sorts of directions to get a glimpse of Akuma's new companion.
"Hn."
When the kid finally moved a slight degree, Sakura gasped abruptly, eyes widening to quite some extent.
"What?" The raven-haired man followed her view only to find the little Uchiha in company of a girl.
Her hair went spiralling down to the middle of her back, carrying a dark, auburn shade. Her eyes were large and bright.
"He found himself a girlfriend!" Sakura gushed, causing Sasuke to sigh and twirl his eyes.
"Don't make assumptions yet." He walked towards his nephew who was actually exiting together with the female.
Sakura followed suite.
"Akuma." Sasuke barely called, catching the immediate attention of the boy who turned his head towards him.
"Ojisan!" He grinned.
The rosette soon stood next to him, beaming herself.
"Who is your friend?" Her voice took on a chirpy pitch.
"O-Oh, that's..." He trailed off nervously, preferring to rub the back of his reddening neck.
"I'm Megumi." The girl answered with a smile, and Sasuke had to discover that her eyes had a similar malachite shade as Sakura's.
They were a bit more amber nonetheless.
Sakura nodded dreamily, her smile never wavering as she muttered a silent "Hi Megumi", before she shook her head and blinked a few times, "I'm Sakura! Nice to meet you, Megumi."
Sasuke felt as if he were trapped in a classroom filled with kids.
"Likewise." The girl responded before she turned back to Akuma, "Well, see you Monday in school then, Akuma-kun." She waved as he returned the gesture, hopping off.
When the rosette was sure she was out of earshot, she began gushing, "You know her from school?"
He nodded meekly.
"I take it she's the girl you tried to protect."
When Akuma made another bob of his head, Sakura creased her eyebrows, "How come someone as sweet as her gets bullied in school?"
"She's...different from other girls. She knows a lot of random facts and is interested in witchcraft and the likes."
"Witchcraft? Does she want to curse people?" Sakura blinked at the image she had formed in front of her inner eye.
"No. She says she likes it because it's interesting, and it makes the girls leave her alone because they're scared. But the boys bully her for it." He sighed, pressing his lips firmly together.
Bending down to be at eye-level with him, she gave Akuma a warming smile, "It's good that you protect her. Every girl needs a knight at some point." There was something reminiscent woven within her orbs, which Sasuke however could not quite catch from the angle he stood at.
Akuma's face lit up proudly upon her words.
"Well, let's go get something to eat!"
Even before Sasuke could groan in complaint he felt himself once more being pulled across the shopping mall.
They left one of the booths with two still hot crêpes wrapped in soft tissue, filled with sticky chocolate and sprinkled with icing, wafting wonderfully nice.
Akuma joyfully ate his crêpe, talking about how he had read about them once but never gotten to try one.
Upon the question if he liked it, his eyes glittered full of glee as he bit into the last piece of the treat, chocolate tracing down his lips.
Sakura laughed at the sight. Sasuke, who walked next to her, held the same impassive expression as always, except that a hint of annoyance still flared up every now and then.
"You might wanna clean that up." She suggested, pointing to a bathroom area only a few metres from them, "We'll wait here."
Bobbing his head up and down, the boy bounced off.
Silence ensued afterwards, both adults minding their own business.
Suddenly, Sasuke smelt melting chocolate right under his nose.
"Wanna try some?" Sakura tempted, but Sasuke pushed her hand away.
What he did not expect, however, was that the young interior designer threw herself in front of him, holding her snack up, "Come on, just a bite."
"I don't like sweets." He made to walk around her but she blocked him still.
"Just try."
"Sakura."
"Sasuke."
Glowering at her, he tried to discover what her intentions were, and how she mustered so much fearlessness considering how dangerously aggravated he could get, if provoked.
"Try." Her plea was spoken so sincerely, her head lowered slightly as the felicity never left her expression, that it somehow caught him.
So before really considering his actions thoroughly enough, he took a bite.
He began to chew, expecting a jolt of sweetness to cause the inside of his cheeks to twitch and a nauseous sensation to overcome him.
Yet nothing of the likes happened. Instead, he found the taste rather pleasurable.
His brows creased just how they tended to do so often that day. This woman was driving him mad, and making him feel terribly lost, too.
"Like it?" He knew she could tell by his expression what he felt.
"No."
Rolling her eyes in amusement, she spun on her heel, "Liar."
He caught up to her step, "I don't like-" yet his words got stuck in his throat as he glanced at her, viewing how she had just bitten off some of the crêpe herself, the warm, gooey substance trailing down her round lips temptingly, "...sweets..."
The corners of her lips curled up, "You sure?" She raised her hand and swiped his nose with her meal, causing some of the chocolate to stick to its tip.
She giggled at the sight whilst he blinked several times, a finger touching it.
He made a displeased expression as he found the brown substance now covering the tip of his fingers.
Sasuke could make out Sakura bursting into laughter. Her eyes closed mirthfully and she doubled over at his shocked state.
"You know, you look so cute with that stupid hat and the chocolate." She bit her lip to stop further amusement to roll off her tongue.
Glancing like she had just lost it, or he had, Sasuke tried to grab some coherent words but was left speechless for several seconds, in which Sakura made fun of him.
"You chose the hat!" Was his resultant response.
"I know." She happily returned, taking another mouthful of crêpe.
Once more that day, he felt like snapping at her, for it seemed the only logical reaction he could think of, but once more she caught him off guard.
As if she planned all this from the start.
Sakura took a step towards him, coming very close, her thumb covering his nose and swiping the rest of the candy away from it. She stuck it inside her mouth, giggling all the while.
It seemed to him as if her whole form glowed unearthly.
Again, something somersaulted inside his body and the desire to grab her returned.
What was wrong with him?
Maybe she was a witch herself, enchanting him with some evil spell to taunt and humiliate him in front of a large crowd.
"Oh Sasuke cheer up!" She yelled, not minding the looks she gained in return.
Akuma returned curtly after their interaction, all clean and fresh.
"Alright, now's movie time!" the rosette cheered and made both males follow her towards the cinema area.
Taking Akuma's young age into consideration, Sakura chose an animated Disney movie, having all three soon seated at one of the top rows with her in the middle.
Sasuke's eyes were half-hooded, and he expected to fall asleep during the show considering how little he appreciated children movies.
Even though producers claimed they were family-qualified.
"Let's play a game." He heard Sakura whisper, her feet tucked up onto the seat and her body leaning towards his.
"What?"
"How many times a child will speak up during the movie."
"What?!" he gave her an 'are-you-serious' look.
"During these kind of movies, where kids are always present, you always have a bunch of them shout around suddenly or cry out. Let's guess the number of times that'll happen. Like a bet."
He could tell the smile in her voice.
"Why would you want to play such a game?" He began rubbing his throbbing temples; he was certain the headache was her earning.
"Because" she angled her head away from the screen and towards him, "I know you don't like these kind of movies, so you'll get bored. I don't want you to fall asleep."
She grinned as he observed her inspectingly.
"Alright."
"I say...eight times! You?"
"Twelve."
"Good."
"What does the winner get?"
She stared a handful of seconds at him before she came up with an answer, "A dance."
"A dance?"
"Yeah."
"That's not very rewarding."
She giggled again, "Just accept the bargain."
Sighing, he gave in, "Alright."
When the movie had finally finished, leaving Akuma to jolt in joy at how entertaining it was to watch in a room full of people (he usually watched them at home, alone, where they had their own cinema room), Sakura beamed proudly.
"Seven times!" She rejoiced, hopping along the way.
"Right. A dance. And where?" his voice couldn't get any darker.
"I'll choose." She began walking backwards, looking towards him as she spoke, "But for now, let's get ice cream!"
Sasuke pulled his fingers through his silken bangs, sighing in frustration, "Alright..."
Hence, they got two cones of overly sugary cold treats; one for Akuma and one for Sakura, who both delightedly devoured the food.
Sasuke would have rather shot himself than to try that, too.
So when Sakura held the ice cream towards him, he gave her a threatening look.
"Sakura." he spoke warningly.
"You really aren't for experiments, are you?"
He quirked an eyebrow at the question.
Coming up close, she smiled at Sasuke's rather displeased face, "Admit it, Uchiha, you enjoyed today." she whispered.
"No." he murmured.
"Liar."
"How would you know?" A challenging smirk adorned his lips.
"Because your overall expression might like you are about to commit a homicide, but your eyes speak differently." Sakura took a lick from her ice cream.
He waited for her to continue.
She rubbed the succulent taste against the roof of her mouth, "They show something akin to happiness. So you must be liking something in this expedition."
"Expedition?"
"Yes. For Akuma it is."
Taking in her whole appearance more attentively, he couldn't help but feel attracted to the glossy lips of hers, now covered in cream and saliva and making them stand out all the more.
"Maybe." He mumbled as he leaned closer towards her.
Her smile simply widened and she did not intend to budge at all. For him it was a simple invitation to capture her lips and give them a good pull and bite.
So he decreased the distance between them as quickly as he could, eager to lose himself in the moment when something interrupted his doing.
Sakura began to sneeze, pointing her head downwards.
His head jumped back a bit.
"Bless...you..."
She grinned at him and began to laugh, "Sorry about tha-" yet she never got to finish her sentence when the sensation took over once more and another sneeze left her lips.
"That's what you get from running around in the rain too much."
She didn't seem bothered, however, just shrugging, "Oh well."
And just as he was about to smirk winningly at her again, he himself crunched his face together and sneezed, still able to place his arm in front of his nose.
"You're not off any better." She chuckled as he straightened himself.
In that curt moment, they simply gazed at each other openly, not a word needed to be spoken.
"Sasuke" she then tore through the silence, "I think we both caught ourselves a cold."
Another sneeze served as evidence to her conclusion.
A/N: A lot more fluffy duffy in comparison to last chapter, I know, and Sakura lead the way today! I was trying to build on Sakura's more of less wild and crazy nature, which is important for the story! Sasuke feels intrigued, and wants to kiss her...?
So, what will you guys have to expect next chapter? *wriggles with eyebrows and says no more*
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! AAAALL OF YOU! *throws hearts*